An interesting twist in Weinstein 3.0
Landlord advocates have prepared a ballot initiative to vanquish the president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), who has diverted his organization’s resources to fund a crusade for radical rent control.
Should public tax dollars meant for low-income patients be spent on those patients, or can these coffers be used to fund harebrained initiatives like the Justice for Renters Act?
That will likely be left up to Californians who go to the ballot box this November to weigh in on the Protect Patients Now Act (PPN). The proposed 2024 ballot initiative has garnered 900,000 signatures, well more than the 565,415 signatures required to qualify for the ballot. Patient groups have applauded the measure that would bring much-needed accountability to public health dollars and close a loophole that has allowed millions of dollars to be squandered, money designated to help sick individuals in need.
Yet, it only seems to target one man: Michael Weinstein.
PPN would only apply to activist drug program participants who have spent more than $100 million on issues unrelated to directed patient care and have amassed 500 or more health and safety violations on their low-income properties. Politico set off to find organizations that matched this criteria but could not find any other than Mr. Weinstein’s organization.
If the ballot initiative is passed, AHF would have to spend 98 percent of its taxpayer-generated revenues on what it was earmarked for - direct patient care.
Should the sprawling international nonprofit violate the new law, its nonprofit status could be stripped, rendering AHF ineligible for taxpayer dollars.
What can our community of housing providers do? Donate.
The California Apartment Association, the California Rental Housing Association and its local affiliates, and the California Business Roundtable are all working tirelessly to defeat Weinstein’s efforts to repeal Costa-Hawkins and avert a decimating blow to the rental housing industry as we once knew it.
We can also conduct our own outreach by talking to people less informed and engaged, particularly renters who may not understand that it is not landlords against tenants; radical rent control policies will harm everyone.
RELATED
Read our article: The epic battle of Weinstein 3.0
From Politico: California proposal would sideline a prolific ballot measure player
Op-ed from the Los Angeles Times: It’s not OK for special interests to use the California ballot to attack each other
From Capitol Weekly: The rent’s too damn high: A conversation with AHF’s Michael Weinstein